This whole mess started with a pair of pants from White House Black Market. They're a gorgeous wide leg cream pant that I got for a low low price on Black Friday, but instead of the 14 Short that I should've ordered, I ordered a 14 Petite. Well, my plan was to wear those pants for our annual holiday party- because I ordered the 14 Petite, the size was- and still is- just a little too small. Or, as Denis nicely put it "These look like your weight loss goal pants." Thanks, honey. Always honest. Well, I was in a conundrum, and the only acceptable solution in a situation like that is to just sew something. I'd had my copy of Simplicity 1104 hanging around for a while and I was able to find a suitably fun looking fabric to make myself a party top.

The only problem with my fabric was that it's backed in a fusible interfacing. Easy solution: underline the thing! However, I had a bigger problem with the pattern itself: inside the envelope, I found all of the pattern pieces and 3 sets of sewing instructions... in Spanish. Yes, that's correct- they gave me 3 sets of Spanish language instructions and no instructions in English. I did try to contact the Simplicity hotline but never heard back about getting a new set of instructions, so I did the next logical thing: sew the top without any instructions. Hey, I have a Bachelor of Arts in Fashion Design and it can't be that complicated of a top, right?

I must admit- this is not my best fitting top, especially while wearing a pushup bra. Memo to self: always conduct fittings while wearing the bra I expect to wear. Duh.

Overall, I wish I'd spent more time working on the fit for this top because I think it's a really cute top but now that I'm seeing all the fit issues in my photos, I'm kind of.... eh, about it.

You can see in the above photo how it's standing away from the back of my shoulder.

I did end up lining the top in silk charmeuse, which of course means it feels super luxurious when it's on.

Sorry for how wrinkled the lining is. The solid pink under the lining is the underlining I added.

The original pattern calls for a band to be put on the hem but I ended up just overlocking, turning up, and catchstitching the hem. It just didn't make sense to me to add the band and I wouldn't have been able to figure out what contrast color to add anyhow.

Don't get me wrong, I like the top and I think it'll be great for New Years tonight, I just wish I'd made some fit changes to it.